


Songs From The Fish Tank

by TomiLang



Category: Persona 5
Genre: (but Ren still has powers shhh), Adult Phantom Thieves, Human Experimentation, Human Morgana, Human on Merman Action, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, MerMay, Merman Goro, Merman Prince Goro AU, Mute Protagonist, Mute Ren, No Metaverse AU, Nudity, Scars, The Shape of Water AU, Trauma, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-28
Updated: 2019-05-28
Packaged: 2020-03-26 12:17:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19005628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TomiLang/pseuds/TomiLang
Summary: ShuAke The Shape Of Water AU. A regular Phantom Thieves infiltration takes an unexpected turn when the mute leader discovers a captive merman. When they decide to free the magical being, last thing Amamiya Ren and his friends expect is for their new mission to change their group forever.





	Songs From The Fish Tank

**Author's Note:**

> Finally, my first Persona 5 fanfic ever is up. Hope you'll enjoy reading this multichapter story as much as I'm enjoying writing it. Full thanks to Monkey_Hazard for drawing the art, EvelynL1112 for inspiring and validating my need to write this very niche AU, maruitenshi for listening to my screams over this fic; and last but not least, my precious brother Silver Strangequark for betaing this story! You're the best!
> 
> Apart from Silver, you can find all of them on Twitter! And I'm on twitter too, look up @togekilltomi ~!

Alarm clock. Wake up. Exercise. Shower. Clothes. Glasses. Coffee. Breakfast. Make-up. Lock the door. To the café. Work. Coffee. Customers. Smiles. Cooking. Brewing. Lunch. Coffee. Work. Customers. Smiles. Lock up shop. Back home. Dinner. Coffee. Shower. Costume. Make-up. Mask. Meetup. Phantoms. Infiltration. Stealth. Loot. Successful mission. Back home. Lock the door. Coffee. Shower. Pajamas. Crash into bed. Sleep.

Rinse and repeat.

It was a noisy life. It was a busy life. It was a dirty sweaty life. But Amamiya Ren would not trade it for anything else. At least, that was what he thought back then.

The double life he had been leading since his rebellious teenage days was satisfying. He felt he was doing the right thing. Changing the world. Paying back all those who wronged the helpless. Saving those who could not retaliate. Fighting the endless war of justice. And all the while, dressing up and acting as a casual café manager who fed and watered the ever-changing patrons with a never changing smile.

And the best thing was, at his daytime job no one expected him to entertain his customers with empty chatter. All he needed to do was to seemingly listen to everyday rumbling and nod at all the right points in the one-sided conversation, and react with a fitting hand gesture when needed. For this very reason, Ren often mused to himself, being mute was beyond convenient.

He would gladly give up the circumstances leading to his deficiency, but the result was the same: he could let his mind roam free in the mental realm, dedicating his thoughts to the secret, dark life of his true self; and at the same time, his body could remain in the physical realm, maintaining the plain, silent image which served as his disguise.

Ren had a lot of his mind, regarding his activities as the leader of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. They were not stealing hearts, not for real. But they had their methods of making their targets, evildoers only, confess their sins. Those methods were quite unorthodox, but just enough to allow them escape from the forces of law for the five years they had been active.

On top of that, they had just the right connections to have intel on the who, the what, the where – and the how to seize their targets. Ren's slightly-supernatural ability to read into others and press all their correct emotional buttons got many allies on his side. Media, black market, politicians, even the police – you name it, and the Phantom Thieves surely had someone on their side there.

And as long as they knew what they were doing, and as long as they were careful enough, Ren was certain he could keep going like that for as long as he wanted to.

Ah yes, there was one more thing Ren had to ensure they should stick to if they wanted to avoid their own downfall – never take on a target bigger than themselves. Unfortunately, there were human-shaped monsters too strong for even the Phantom Thieves to face. Ren could easily name one such monster off the top of his head, and knew in this case, that one would be an impossible target because matters were too personal.

It sounded paranoid of him, but he would rather avoid that one target until he was certain he was up to the task of fighting and defeating them for good.

Fortunately, the others understood that. They all knew each other's stories and why each joined the Phantom Thieves, and supported each other through all hardships accompanying said stories. Their mutual loyalty – no, friendship… or rather, siblinghood – was the glue that had kept them together through all these years and had ensured they would all succeed in whatever they had done, both as a group and in person.

And oh, Ren was so proud of each and every one of them. They had all come such a long way and had achieved so much in their five years together. Blending perfectly into their desired careers, building the homes they desired, some of them even finding love…

Yet the way Ren saw it, he was the only one to never really progress in life. Not a single step from being just the average guy who spent most of his time at Café Leblanc. Alright, maybe he was exaggerating. He had moved out of the café's attic and into his own nearby apartment. And the ownership and management of the business had been passed down to him from Sakura Sojiro, the original heart and soul of this small but meaningful place. But that pretty much summed up his life outside of being a Phantom Thief – Café Leblanc, and not much else.

Not that it mattered. Ren was not the Phantom Thieves' leader for nothing. He was the one invested in this the most, and this was the thing he was invested in the most. This, with his friends, with the thrill, with the constant hiding in the darkness, is where he felt he belonged. Where he could really shine.

Amamiya Ren would not trade it for anything else. At least, that was what he thought back then.


End file.
